1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for manufacturing magnetic heads used in the recording and reproduction equipment of various electronic devices, such as hard disk systems, computers, and word processors. In particular, it concerns a method for manufacturing magnetic heads which are magnetic heads to perform data recording and reproduction while traveling and flying at an infinitesimal gap over the flat surface of the recording medium, and which are in various types including inductive types, magneto-resistive (MR) types, and inductive/MR hybrid types.
2. Background Information
Ordinarily, this type of magnetic head is formed by first forming numerous magnetic head elements on a wafer; cutting these out into strip-shaped sliders; forming flying rails and so on in patterns of specified shapes on the air bearing surface (ABS); and then cutting out and separating these into individual magnetic head sliders. In addition to ordinary mechanical cutting and machining, the ABS pattern formation has recently been performed by etching using photolithography techniques in order to raise machining precision and improve flying characteristics.
However, in the case of magnetic heads of the prior art described above, in both the ABS machining and the etching, burrs occur readily in the peripheral part of the slider, and consequently stable flying characteristics cannot be obtained, and crashes occur to damage the recording medium surface.
There has also been a problem in which, in so-called contact-start-stop (CSS) method magnetic disk devices, when the magnetic head lands on the recording medium surface at the time the motor is stopped, sharp angled parts of the slider peripheral part cause scratches on the recording medium surface, or the head itself may be damaged during intervals in which CSS operation is repeated. Further, the slider ABS is formed to be highly planar, and so tends to adhere easily to the recording medium V surface, so that in CSS operation take-off becomes impossible, shocks and wear occur, and the magnetic head durability and lifetime are degraded.
Consequently, in the prior art a method is adopted in which the peripheral part of the slider is chamfered by lapping the ABS or otherwise using machining. However, such machining has a relatively large tolerance, and as sliders have been made smaller and slider flying heights have been reduced to accompany recent rises in recording densities and reductions in device sizes, the influence on flying characteristics has increased, and flying heights have become unstable, inviting reductions in magnetic head reliability.
The present invention was devised in consideration of these problems of the prior art described above.
A method of manufacturing a magnetic head is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of cutting out an individual slider from a wafer. A magnetic head device is formed on a surface of the wafer. The method also includes applying photoresist on an air bearing surface of the slider, baking the photoresist and then uniformly dry etching the air bearing surface.